In Ekiti State, suspected hoodlums in the early hours of yesterday, invaded the Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital, Ado Ekiti, EKSUTH, attacked doctors on duty and made away with a corpse.
Sources in the hospital revealed that the hoodlums attacked doctors and other health officers on duty at the accident and emergency ward, destroyed facilities and made away with a corpse suspected to be the father of one of the hoodlums.
In a swift reaction to the matter, the Association of Resident Doctors in the Hospital held an emergency meeting and directed its members to embark on an indefinite strike with immediate effect.
This was contained in a letter addressed to the Chief Medical Director, Professor Kayode Olabanji and signed by the President of the Association, Dr. Famous Adeyemi.
The letter read: “The above-named association writes to notify you of the decision of the Emergency Congress held today to embark on an indefinite strike with immediate effect.
“This is following the actions of hoodlums who stormed the Accident and Emergency unit of the Hospital in the early hours of today and assaulted some members of the Association, destroyed several hospital equipment and properties and stole a corpse during the attack
“This attack is happening at a time when our members are showing understanding with the state government on the non-implementation of our demands on improved welfare vis-a-vis being faced with work overload and exhaustion as a result of poor remuneration, pay disparity and the attendant effect of local brain drain
“We wish to use this medium to call on the management of the Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital, EKSUTH, and the Executive Governor of Ekiti State, Mr. Biodun Abayomi to apprehend the culprits and bring them to justice for their actions
“We also implore the state government to, as a matter of urgency, attend to our pending demands which border on improved welfare of our members. We implore the management and the government to provide a lasting solution to these incessant attacks. The strike will not be called off until our demands are met”.
Police deploy assets in search, rescue of abducted Abuja girls, others
Meanwhile, following an outcry by Nigerians over last week’s abduction of six sisters and their father by bandits, the demand for N60 million ransom and the killing of the eldest daughter, Naheebat, the FCT Police Command, has deployed operatives of the Anti-Kidnapping and Counter-Terrorism squads on a search and rescue mission.
Vanguard gathered that the operation which also involves elements of the Nigerian Army is targeting forest areas and remote enclaves of Bwari Area Council, Abuja, some of which also fall into Niger and Kaduna states.
The joint Police and military deployments are looking to rescue the remaining sisters of Naheebat, which is said to be a priority of the Police Command.
It was, however, gathered that apart from the sisters and their father who were kidnapped on that day, several other persons were abducted by the bandits
Aside the Anti-Kidnapping and Counter-terrorism units working in conjunction with the military, it was further gathered that the FCT Task Force on Security, and the Divisional Police Stations in Kubwa, Zuba are also combing abandoned buildings and identified black spots for any of the kidnapped victims.
It will be recalled that the FCT Commissioner of Police, Haruna Garba, had visited the troubled areas of Bwari, Kubwa and Kuje where incidents of kidnapping took place last week and promised that deployment of tactical additional personnel and teams to help in the rescue efforts and checkmate further attacks.
An uncle of Naheebat, Sherifdeen Al-Kadriyar, reportedly said that the kidnappers of the other sisters had increased the ransom to N100 million with a threat to kill more victims if the ransom was not paid.
On January 2, Nabeeha and her sisters were taken from their home in the Bwari Area Council. Their father, Mansoor Al-Kadriyar, who was initially taken captive with them was later released by the kidnappers to raise a ransom of N60 million.
However, the kidnappers increased the ransom to N100 million and killed Nabeeha when the deadline was not met. They have threatened to kill the remaining five sisters, if the ransom was not paid by January 17.